Devastation
and the re-building process |
Arriving
at Greensborough |
Tuesday the 1st The first day of spring and the weather at Kinglake is overcast and it would appear that rain is on the cards. After breakfast we showered and washed the car, Liz was to pack our lunch and we headed off to explore the area. All we were to see was devastation on grand scale and by the look at the hilly country it would have been undefendable by firemen or any other means. To see the devastation is to realise the intensity of the blaze for the trees on the sides of the hilly country are not showing any sign of regrowth. We were to see some re-building taking place and other blocks having for sale signs on them we assume the owners can not resettle on the block again or could it be that the occupants perished in the blaze. Many of the signs had sold on them which may auger well for the total re-establishment of the village of Kinglake. We were to drive down the mountain towards Hurstbridge and onto Greensborough which is only 26 kilometers away from the centre of Melbourne. As we left Hurstbridge we were to see the high rise buildings of Melbourne in the distance and as we could not stop to take a photo we continued on. The road we were travelling was very narrow and to go over the side would mean instant death, there was a sign that indicated that 153 motorcyclists had come to grief on the road due to its narrowness and slippery conditions. When we arrived at Greensborough it was like we were in a suburb of Melbourne for the commuter trains run out this far and terminate at Hurstbridge. |
Greensborough
shopping centre |
Community
facilities |
Temporary
accommodation at Kinglake |
We stopped
at the park on the way back and had our lunch and walked around the small
community taking in the ambiance of the area, back in the car and we were
on the way back to the Motorhome and going up the mountain was worse than
coming down due to the narrowness of the road. It is obvious that the
people at the bottom of the mountain have not learnt anything from the
fires for they still have Australian natives growing near their house's.
When we arrived back in Kinglake we inspected the new community facilities
such as showers, toilets and rooms where the locals can gather, there
are still a lot of people living in sheds and caravans and the government
has built small residences for those who are awaiting the re-building
of their houses and as fast as they can build them they are being occupied.
You get a strong presence of community amongst the locals and many facilities
are being built for them and programme's run to assist them to overcome
the trauma of the bush fires and also how to defend and react to fire
attacking their residence in the future. We pooled our resources with Bob & Chrissie for our evening meal and we will soon discuss the making of a web page for the Quercus Park Rally next year. Another full on day though we feel a little saddened for the community and their struggle to regain their lifestyle. Finally we believe that it would have been impossible to contain the fire of that magnitude and you can feel for those who lost their loved one's in these devastating fires. Those who oppose controlled burn off of the bush and national parks should come and witness loss of community and see if the do not have a change of heart! It is eerie to note that there is no bird or wildlife present at all, we were told that birds were falling from the sky un burnt and the death is believed to be lack of oxygen in the air for the fire was consuming all available. If you believe that Liz and I have been touched by what we have seen and experienced you would be 100 per cent correct it is to difficult to put into words without filling page after page of your thoughts. Today at happy hour we will toast the brave people of Kinglake and the surrounding areas that have been touched by this tragedy. |
More
devastation Kinglake |
Liz
& Chrissie volunteering |
Musicians
entertaining diners |
Wednesday the
2nd A chilly evening and this morning though the sun was shining it was a cold wind blowing. At 9am I started work with Chrissy of the many details required for the Quercus Park Rally to held next March in Tasmania . The skills of Chrissie are plenty and her knowledge of building web sites shows me exactly where I am in my efforts. We were to work all day on the Rally programme and web pages or should I say Chrissie did, at the end of the day I was feeling a bit heavy in the head trying get my mind around what I was being shown would be the requirements. We wound up at around 5pm for Chrissie had to go and do volunteer work at the Bush Fire Relief Cafe. Liz was to go with her and volunteered her services as well. In all they served 138 meals at the Bushfire Relief Cafe and weren't they great with choices of either roast beef or chicken or both if you wanted and the choice of five vegetables plus choice of sweets and tea or coffee for $5. This service to the community is meant to bring everyone together and assist in reducing the trauma in their everyday life as they struggle to put their village and homes together again. The venue for meals is a restaurant by day and Bush Fire Relief Cafe by night. The venue is donated and the meals are self funded by the charge and other donations of food etc and the volunteer chefs for today drove from Mornington Peninsula to do their work and all other hands assisting in the kitchen and serving areas are local volunteers. The camaraderie is most obvious and the spirits of the people is high given the damage to the area by the dreaded bush fires. Even the musicians donate their time and services and I found the people talking and enjoying the meal and hospitality offered. It has bought the community together to face the future rebuilding of the township, to see whole families together eating their meal and smiling let us know that the community is on the way to recovery given the enormity of the disaster which you can only imagine as you drive through it, the large amount of personal grief on loss of loved ones and friends is well hidden behind the smiles. Back to the Motorhome and we bid Bob & Chrissie farewell for the night and thanked them for allowing us to get an insight into the community and its recovery programme. |
Lone
Porta-loo |
Service Station destroyed by fire |
Liz
with Ollie and Lucas |
Thursday the
3rd It was a very windy night with Chrissie informing us this morning that we had wind gusts up to 70kilometers per hour, most disconcerting as it passed through the trees damaged by fire it created an eerie sound. We had our breakfast and thanked both Bob & Chrissie for their hospitality and allowing us to peer through the window at the community, so to speak. We hooked up the Suzuki and we were on our way to Melbourne, we drove though the devastation and the roadwork's being carried out along the highway with the trimming and cutting down of dangerous trees close to the roadside. We were to see many blocks cleared and the lone Porta-Loo looked a little lonely in the cleared paddock, as we drove through the village we noted the service station that had been totally destroyed by the fire's. As we wound our way down the mountain to Whittlesea we noted the many Australian flags flying outside of destroyed houses and on empty blocks and we were to see a few crosses erected no doubt to remember those whose life was destroyed by fire. We finally were down the mountain and the scenery changed to green paddocks and plenty of houses and I noted the increase in traffic, before we knew it we were on a three lane highway with plenty of traffic lights. Of course we were to get more red lights than green and the old problem of cars ducking in front of you just before the stop light caused a few anxious moments, they are not aware that a Motorhome's of our age just cannot pull up as quickly as cars and I wonder how long it will be before we run up the back side of cars that cut in. Whose fault? mine of course for ramming them, in the eyes of the law. Our GPS was now and again became confused about the road we were on, though overall it saved a lot of heartache rather than consulting maps. We finally arrived at Rob & Jens place in Thornbury and it was good to see the grandchildren again and Liz was to spend heaps of time with them whilst I had a poppy nap. We had roast chicken for our evening meal and settled in to watch a bit of tellie before going off to bed. The Motorhome is parked in the street and we will sleep in it tonight it is going to be strange to hop into our own bed again after all these months on the road. Kilometers travelled 60 Friday the 4th Blustery Melbourne weather was the order of the day, we experienced showers on an intermittent basis. Liz was to accompany Jenny to play school with Ollie and on there return we were to go to to the shopping complex at Thornbury where we wandered through the arcade and dropped into Aldi and had another lesson in cheap though quality groceries, liquor and gift lines. It is interesting to note they now have mostly Australian groceries, meat and vegetables which is somewhat different to when we visited them when they first set up in Australia. We had lunch with Jen and the boys and then it was time to go to Port Melbourne and park up whilst we purchased meat at the Victoria Markets. The run in was a little hairy with the wet roads and rain the cars etc still jumped in front of up if you left an opening. The blood pressure was up and I was glad when we reached Port Melbourne and took on our last tank of Diesel at $1.20.9cents a litre they wanted $1.32.9 a litre for unleaded petrol. We purchased the meat and chicken and were disappointed that we could not buy the fruit and vegetables at such cheap prices, though I suppose it is best that we respect the Quarantine laws of Tasmania. 6pm soon arrived and we were in the line undergoing a security check on both vehicles, luckily they allowed Liz to follow the Mothorhome on and park behind me, so it made it easy to get off the ship at the other end. We had our evening meal on the Ferry and it was very nice indeed and then we went to the lounge and watched the Essendon V Adelaide football game which Adelaide won easily. Then after have a few happy hour drinks we went off to bed knowing that the trip would be smooth. Saturday the 5th They woke us 6:am indicating that we would be alongside the wharf in Devonport at 7am, we had our showers and it was time to disembark and go through the Quarantine area and then we were heading up the road to Westbury. We noted how green the countryside was and the dams that were empty when we left in May were now full and the radio indicated there was more rain to come in coming days. We were to buy our breakfast at Andy's Bakery and then we proceeded to Barry and Sheila's place at Carrick for breakfast. We chewed the fat for a couple of hours catching up with the latest and then headed to our Launceston residence and what a shock to see the grass was at least a metre high in places which means we have heavy work in front of us before we can leave for Binalong Bay and home. The Outback Journey is now over and all we can say is that we enjoyed the journey immensely even though there were a couple of hiccups. Given that on this occasion we approached the travel plan slightly different and we were to see more of the local outback towns and villages and the surrounding countryside. Do we start planning for next year who knows? |